ERIC Number: EJ1114793
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1468-1811
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Available Date: N/A
Comprehensive for Who? Neoliberal Directives in Australian "Comprehensive" Sexuality Education and the Erasure of GLBTIQ Identity
Shannon, Barrie
Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, v16 n6 p573-585 2016
At present, Australian sex(uality) education curricula aim to equip students with information which facilitates "healthy" sexual choices as they develop. However, this is not neutral information, but rather socially and culturally regulated discourse which encodes a normative binary of sexuality. The largely US-focused sexuality education literature tends to categorise curricula as belonging to either "comprehensive" or "conservative" factions, consisting of progressive, secular approaches or religious- or abstinence-based programmes, respectively. Neither of these factions, however, appear to be able to cater for the integration of issues relevant to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students nor does this binary conceptualisation represent the reality of Australian sexuality education policy and practice. This paper argues that contemporary sexuality education has a fundamentally neoliberal focus, which aims to assimilate GLBTIQ people into existing normative frameworks (economic and social), rather than challenge them. Such an approach does not foster critical student understandings of oppression, power or morality. The development of critical literacy around sexuality is regarded as essential to meaningfully address the complex needs of GLBTIQ students. The paper explores missing queer discourses within Australian teaching resources. The inclusion of these would benefit GLBTIQ students by bringing previously silenced issues to the fore.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Sex Education, Curriculum, Health Promotion, Homosexuality, Sexual Identity, Sexual Orientation, Neoliberalism, Social Attitudes, Critical Literacy, Course Content, Public Health, Politics of Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
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